In Case You Need a Good Laugh...

On the weekend Rosanna introduced us to Rhett & Link's website and their wonderfully funny web videos. Let's just say, here are 2 very creative guys with a whole lot of spare time on their hands! Please enjoy :)

Summer Days

Another week (or more) has gone by since I blogged last and there are several pictures needing to be posted!



It's hard to believe that August is almost over. I found out that Micah's preschool doesn't start until towards the middle of September. I wish it was coming a little sooner than that. Micah might be thankful for the extra weeks but I think that once he starts he'll realize what he's been missing all this time!

Last week we had a few hot days and one late afternoon we took the kids to the park before meeting the rest of the family for supper. It was pretty warm, but not like the heat that we've had. I had forgotten to put hats on the kids and they were running pretty hard, chasing a frisbee that Erik was throwing. Over the next 24 hours Micah's skin broke into a pretty intense heat rash - mostly his face and arms. Surprisingly, he didn't really notice it and wasn't bothered by any itchiness.

(It's already faded quite a bit here.)

Keziah also got her first haircut this week - though not a planned one! Erik managed to get a comb twisted up in her hair so bad that we had to cut it out. (You'll have to ask him how that happened!) I expected it to look much worse, but you actually can't even really tell. I saved the inch-long chunk for her baby book as this was her very first haircut!


Silas is back to sleeping in our bedroom these days. He's actually sleeping through the night; going from about 10 pm to 7 am without feeding. He sometimes has other brief wakings in between but what bothers me is that he wakes up at about 6 am and wants to be up for the day. I know I shouldn't complain about this one measly hour when he's already sleeping so well, but I know that he's able to make it until 7. With him and Micah in the same room I risk Micah waking up at 6 am also if he hears Silas fussing. And the chances of Micah going back to sleep aren't likely - and I do NOT want to deal with an over-tired 4-year-old who doesn't nap. So, Silas will be in our room until things are a little more consistent. It would be so wonderful if we had just one more bedroom!


I started showing Silas one of our Baby Einstein DVDs about a month ago and he LOVES it. Baby Mozart has become such a life-saver for me these days. Micah also loved those videos from a young age, though Keziah never cared much for them. Perhaps boys just have a greater love for TV!


Silas is able to hold onto toys quite a bit now - which is also nice for me! One of his favourites is this razz-berry teether:


The kids are really excited about praying these days. They take turns praying at meal time and at bedtime and though some of their prayers are humourous (i.e. Keziah thanks Jesus every day that we got to go to Castle Fun Park even though we haven't been there for weeks), some of their prayers have surprised us (like when Micah thanks God for the Holy Spirit!).

Anyway, this morning one of our neighbours lost their dog. They were planning to catch a flight to Montreal today and somehow their dog got out during the night and they were a little panicked this morning as they tried to find him. Erik came in to tell us about it and then him and Micah prayed that they could find the dog. Within 10 minutes, we saw one of the kids walk past with the dog, calling loudly that he was found. It was neat for the kids to see this answered prayer (though we realize God doesn't answer ALL prayers this fast!). Later this morning I heard Keziah talking to herself and when I stopped to listen I realized she was praying and thanking God that our neighbours found their puppy :) So cute!


Singing a song together and then laughing:


Yesterday morning we skipped our church service and took a family trip to White Rock instead:


I'm still breastfeeding Silas the majority of the time, but he's getting at least 1 bottle a day. I started this as a way to keep him used to the bottle, but now I'm finding that my milk supply has depleted to the point where I need to give him a bottle once a day. I'm a little worried about losing my supply entirely (or that Silas will prefer the bottle to me which is what happened with Keziah). I'm really hoping to nurse him until the 1 year mark and I am SO not ready to start paying the big bucks for formula!


The big white rock:



"WHITE ROCK!!"


We walked down the pier which took a LONG time. Keziah alternated between wanting to walk, but then being weird-ed out by being able to see the water between the slats of wood beneath her feet.

Here she is watching the crabs swimming in the water below:


A nice couple offered to take our picture. They probably didn't even realize we had a whole other child (who was sleeping soundly in his stroller off to the side):


By the time we walked back, the sun had warmed up and we enjoyed a picnic on the sand:


Silas is very smiley and quick to giggle. And I think he may be quite ticklish too. I usually notice it when he's a little overtired, but sometimes when I touch his neck or ears (without the intent to tickle) he just cracks right up! Yesterday at the beach I peeked in the side of his diaper by his leg to check if it was dirty and he broke into a fit of giggles :)


Micah had the job of scaring away the seagulls while we ate our picnic lunch. According to him, he was our "pre-tector".




And this is a scene from this morning. I found these shiny black shoes for Keziah at Value Village yesterday and she wore them from breakfast until lunch.


And here's a picture of our kitchen. This past week Erik put on the new cabinet door handles and also custom-built this potlight fixture to replace our huge flourescent light:


The only thing we might do in here yet is a backsplash but we'll have to decide what kind of tile to use.

Here's a reminder of what the kitchen looked like when we moved in (too bad we didn't get a shot that showed off the nasty flourescent glow!):

Oh and I shouldn't forget to mention that Erik and I have started a workout program this past week called P90X. Erik is doing the full program which requires an hour of working out 6 days a week for 90 days. He follows a schedule that alternates between several different DVDs. So far I've done 4 of the workouts. I'm interested in the cardio-related ones and not so much all the muscle building ones. There's a diet that goes along with the program, but instead of following it religiously we're just making an effort to eat more protein and fresh vegetables and eliminate the treats! We have been pretty sore (and extra hungry!) but we also feel great. I was especially glad to see that a couple more pregnancy pounds were gone by the end of the week!

Today At Our House...

... Keziah is recovering from the flu:

She was fine yesterday morning and then after her nap I thought her eyes still looked very tired. She didn't want to get off the couch for the next hour and then I noticed that she felt warm. I gave her some tylenol which she promptly threw back up. The throwing up continued until about 10 pm. The one positive note is that she's learning to aim for the pail :P

Thankfully she seems to be doing much better today. No more throwing up throughout the night and she woke up hungry. She wolfed down her pancakes and turkey bacon at breakfast. She felt a bit warm yet before her nap but hopefully is on the mend. With the whole H1N1 scare, it's easy to be worried!

Today at our house... Erik is doing some much-awaited household improvements:

We re-did our ensuite bathroom many months ago and all that was left was to silicone the edge of the tub so we could use it again. We got in the habit of showering in the kids' shower as this small job was procrastinated. Thankfully we can have our shower back today!

We also finally got the hardware for our kitchen cupboards! Erik reno'd and painted our cupboard doors back in April and we've been living without handles since then. The new handles will look beautiful and I will enjoy not using my fingernails to pry open cupboards anymore. As I type, Erik is on his way to his job-site to pick up the tools he needs to finish this job. So, pictures of that will have to wait...

Today at our house... Micah is learning how to wipe his own bum (I keep warning him that they're not going to do it for him at preschool!), he's becoming a pro "dawdler" (how many times do you need to ask a 4 year old boy to do something before it'll actually get done??) and he continues to beat the pants of off me and Erik at Wii bowling. Fortunately I'm still better than him at golf! Not even Erik can match my best score :o)

Today at our house... Silas got a bath to remedy a stinky baby neck.

He's really starting to look like his own little person!


Cute t-shirt from Granny:


Silas is almost 5 months, but I have yet to document his 4 month stats. He weighed in at 13 lbs, 5 oz on July 28. I don't remember his length, but he was in the 75th percentile for height and 25th for weight - long and skinny! He's now up to 14 and 1/2 lbs according to the scale at the health unit. I looked back and realized that Micah was already 15 lbs at 4 months even though he had a lower birth weight than Silas. It'll be interesting to see how they compare as they get older.

Today at our house... I am wishing for a nap but not sure when (or if) it's going to happen. I'd also like to go for a run. I'd also like to take a shower. Not sure if any of that will happen today, but hey - at least I blogged.

Last Week

My heart feels so heavy. I read Nichole's blog this morning and feel such sadness for her - and for all of them. I ache as someone who knows what grief feels like and looks like - the shock, the sinking reality, the way it has affected those who are close to me. But reading her words this morning makes me ache even more as a fellow mother who knows the unconditional love of a child.


I have several pictures on my camera from our week in Manitoba, so I thought I'd share a few of them here...

The night before the funeral, we took Brad & Nichole's kids and went to visit my sister Erin's family one evening at their campsite in Birdshill park. The kids were acting goofy as always!

The kids asked about Micah and Keziah and I wished they could be there to hang out with all their cousins again...


Later that evening Erik got a (much-needed) lesson in tie-tying from Brad's friend Ernie:


Their friend Kim sewed these matching monkeys for Josh, Kailyn and Noah:


Silas getting a bath in the sink:


Grandpa Harder getting a post-bath snuggle with Silas. My dad called him "Micah" all week because he thought he looked exactly like him! I agree that Silas is looking less like Keziah lately and more like his big brother...


Tuesday was the funeral and the service was beautiful - I loved hearing the tributes about Noah and how he had affected so many people. After the service we drove out to a peaceful cemetery in the country outside of La Salle:


We released balloons in memory of Noah:


Then we were given the opportunity to write a message on the casket. Here are Nichole, Brad, Josh and Kailyn writing their messages to Noah:


Brad & Nichole were able to find a teenage girl to watch Silas in the church nursery during the service which was very helpful. Unfortunately Silas screamed the entire time. I felt so bad for her because I could tell she was quite flustered when I came to pick him up. She said to me, "He just wouldn't stop crying!" So, I just tried to reassure her that it was totally OK. Oh well.

Silas getting in some one-on-one time with Smoky the cat:


And falling alseep later that morning on the floor. He never falls asleep like this anymore as he's usually swaddled up tight and placed in a quiet room with a loud fan... So it was worth a picture:


When we got back on Thursday, Silas had nothing but smiles and giggles for Micah and Keziah. He definitely recognized them! Erik and I were so excited to see the kids too - I haven't been away from them for that long since we went to Maui last year. And we've been enjoying the cooler weather here in BC after the unbearable heat of July. Today's rain is a welcome sight...

Remembering Noah

Erik & I were thankful to be able to be with my family this past week to remember Noah's short life. My brother-in-law graciously used his airmlies so that we could be there (along with Silas). Erik and I ended up being part of the music team for the funeral which was an honor. My other sister, Erin, put together 2 slide presentations for the funeral - the first was shown in the middle of the service and the second was played as the family was led out of the church.





Although Erik and I were only able to know Noah from far away, we prayed for him often and knew just how special he was - to his family and to so many others who met him or only knew him through his blog. Now, our hearts are heavy for Brad, Nichole, Josh & Kailyn as we have a bit of an idea of the road of grief that is still ahead for them...